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Monday, April 17, 2017

London Zoo Part IV: B.U.G.S.

I get the impression that the B.U.G.S. (Biodiversity Underpinning Global Survival) building is one of the most highly acclaimed exhibits at the London Zoo, and it's not difficult to see why. Many of its displays use quite novel methods to showcase its resident animals, most of which (as indicated by the building's acronym) are invertebrates.

The photo below shows one of these novel exhibits, their leaf-cutter ant display. The ants can march between several tanks, including one from which they can harvest leaves and another which houses their nest. The paths they use to get from tank to tank are exposed out in the open, providing no physical barrier between the ants and visitors.

A pile of leaves harvested by the ants.

A couple of giant house spiders living in a mock-up bathroom.

A fen raft spider, a large wetland spider that hunts on the water surface.

There is even a spider walkthrough exhibit. Shown here is the corner of the walkthrough where social spiders reside.

Some chocolate millipedes. (They are not actually made of chocolate.)

Some weaver ants with their woven nest, which is made out of leaves and larval silk.

Some shiny jewel wasps, a parasitic wasp species that lay their eggs on cockroaches.

Some sunburst diving beetles.

Some critically endangered giant magnolia snails.

Some African giant mosquitoes, one of the few mosquito species in which the females do not need to drink blood to reproduce. The larvae prey on the larvae of other mosquitoes. Accordingly, they are sometimes used as a means of biological pest control.